Santiago Pena wins Paraguay vote, keeps rightwing in power
Paraguayan presidential candidate Santiago Pena from the ruling Colorado Party speaks at the party headquarters as he and his running mate Pedro Alliana lead Paraguay's presidential race, according to the preliminary official count, in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 30. Reuters-Yonhap
Paraguayans on Sunday elected a president from the rightwing Colorado Party, in power for nearly eight decades, rejecting a center-left challenger who had railed against institutional corruption.
Economist and former finance minister Santiago Pena, 44, won the election with more than 42 percent of votes cast, results showed with 90 percent of ballots counted.
Sixty-year-old challenger Efrain Alegre of the Concertacion center-left coalition garnered 27.5 percent despite having had a narrow lead in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's vote.
The Colorado Party has governed almost continually since 1947 ― through a dictatorship and since the return of democracy in 1989, but has been tainted by corruption claims.
Pena's political mentor, ex-president and Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, was recently sanctioned by the United States over graft.
Some 4.8 million of Paraguay's 7.5 million inhabitants were eligible to vote Sunday for a president to replace Mario Abdo Benitez, leaving office after a constitutionally limited single term, in a single-round, winner-takes all election.
They also voted for new lawmakers. (AFP)
President elect of the Colorado Party Santiago Pena, center, celebrates with his wife Leticia Ocampos, left, and Vice President elect, right, Pedro Alliana, after their victory at Colorado Party campaign headquarters in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 30. EPA-Yonhap